Remedy

Remedy (Latin remedium, "a remedy" or "cure"; from re- "again" + mederi "to heal") refers to something which corrects or counteracts an influence or problem. Often used synonymously with cure which brings an end to a disease or other medical condition, as a substance or procedure which ends it, such as a medication, surgical operation, change in lifestyle, or even a philosophical mindset which helps end sufferings.

Guy Fawkes, in a remark in admitting to the Gunpowder Plot, after being captured (6 November 1605), as quoted in The Dictionary of National Biography Vol. 6 (1917); Fawkes here invokes a version of a famous statement of Hippocrates (see below).

À grands maux, grands remèdes. / Aux grands maux, les grands remèdes.

English equivalent: Desperate times call for desperate measures/Desperate diseases must have desperate cures.

"The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax."

Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955), Section 124.

Hippocrates, as quoted in A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources (1942) by H. L. Mencken

The greatest remedy in the world is change; and change implies the passing from the old to the new. It is also the only path that leads from the lesser to the greater, from the dream to the reality, from the wish to the heart’s desire fulfilled. It is change that brings us everything we want. It is the opposite of change that holds us back from that which we want. But change is not always external. Real change, or rather the cause of all change, is always internal. It is the change in the within that first produces the change in the without. To go from place to place is not a change unless it produces a change of mind—a renewal of mind. It is the change of mind that is the change desired. It is the renewal of mind that produces better health, more happiness, greater power, the increase of life, and the consequent increase of all that is good in life. And the constant renewal of mind—the daily change of mind—is possible regardless of times, circumstances or places. He who can change his mind every day and think the new about everything every day, will always be well; he will always have happiness; he will always be free; his life will always be interesting; he will constantly move forward into the larger, the richer and the better; and whatever is needed for his welfare today, of that he shall surely have abundance.

To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.

Take you up when you feeling down When you're sick he will come around Takes his cures from out the ground He's the one who can hypnotize And you'll never believe your eyes He can cause the dead to rise.

10ccBaron Samedi from the album Sheet Music, written by Erik Stewart and Graham Gouldman.

Depression in its major stages possesses no quickly available remedy: failure of alleviation is one of the most distressing factors of the disorder as it reveals itself to the victim, and one that helps situate it squarely in the category of grave diseases.